The Second Barrage
by Kushin eX
Summary: We were fools. Of course they'd want revenge.


_We were fools. _

_We were told that the Kaiju were parasitic, a weed on the universes beyond our own. But we ignored that. We'd killed their homeworld, their leaders, and their families. Of course they'd want revenge. _

_It was stupid of us to believe that by killing the core, we'd killed them all. They were spread throughout the dimensions, each one with throats to the others. We were just the prey in the spider's web. _

_It didn't take long for us to realise our mistake. We'd destroyed any chance of them using the Pacific Rim again, the thermonuclear blast destabilising the area to such an extent that the researchers said throat materialisation would be impossible. Our peacetime was cut short by another Kaiju attacking. Category 4, codenamed Windchaser. Only the one this time, thank god, they seemed to have taken to probing us again. _

_That didn't make the sting hurt any less. _

_The British Isles were struck hard, the military mobilising as soon as they could, but without any active Jaeger pilots, they didn't have the weaponry to handle it fully. It took the combined force of the US, UK and the French military two weeks to take him down. Two weeks of carnage. This thing was fast, smaller than average, but fast. Wales was desolated. Every major population centre in the country was either evacuated inland or destroyed. The death toll hit five million before it died._

_We had to fight again. _

_There was talking of nuking every ocean, but with the recognition that we needed the oceans one way or another, that idea was fallen through. We'd have to do this the old-fashioned way. Jaegers._

_Every coastal country in the world put aside their regurgitated squabbles to help contribute to this new war. The Brits had taken a harsh pounding, but their stiff upper lip was showing through. Industry was put through the roof, engineers working dawn till dusk to develop their new weapons. In the Pacific Theatre, they manufactured parts and weaponry for the Jaegers. Celebrities meant big business. Big business meant profit. It also meant they had infrastructure in place, as well as parts to spare. They started not to just build one, they built a few. These ramshackle few have held on for so long, the world owes them a great debt. They deployed across the world, to defend it in the absence of other, stronger Jaegers. The last one was destroyed in Cabo, Mexico just last week. Defending the resort from 3 category 2s. Codenamed Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar. It did its job though. The resort still stands. _

_They have a new team working on a true and single 5__th__ Generation Jaeger, these are truly a beast above the others, taking more resources and manpower than any before. I'd be surprised if they get just one off the ground. But if they can, it'll be worth it. The EU have one capable of taking on 3 category 4's and winning. _

_The European Union strung together in the same way, pooling their resources and creating new, upgraded Jaegers. The first of the 5__th__ Generation, Omega Trigger, fully digital with analogue back-up, was ready 4 years after the Death of Wales. The work on replicating the work put into it is advancing, but the materials just aren't there anymore. The past war wore them all out. They'll have to make do with one for now_

_Scandinavia entered the fray too, being on the join of two oceans, along with Britain, made the two close allies. They only had the materials for one, but boy was it a doozy. Skal Takk was one of the final 4__th__ Generation Jaegers put into service. It still stands to this day._

_India put itself forward to create its first Jaeger. The thing was immaculate, technology donated to its scientists, combined with a massive workforce, they built a veritable army of Jaegers. A solid dozen refurbished 3__rd__ Generation Jaegers, the majority now non-operational but with kill-counts to rival Striker Eureka. It's commanding Jaeger, Green Smite, still functioning to defend the northern parts of the ocean while they work on their 5__th__ Generation Jaeger._

_America wished for another like Gipsy Danger, and another was built. Lima Titan. The largest of the 5__th__ Generation Jaegers, a pinnacle of what Humanity can achieve. Twice the size of Gipsy Danger with an arsenal to decimate entire countries. _

_Australia rebuilt too, their infrastructure still in place, they built many Jaegers following the blueprint of Striker Eureka. A tribute to the current Marshal and his now deceased son. The group often co-operated with the Indian and South African groups to take down those coming from the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic. _

_Now South Africa was a trouble point, the governments had very little control over the resources there. And could not physically take them. They were instead controlled by a conglomeration of local warlords, who appointed a Warchief to govern for them. They built a Jaeger, in secret and in parts, all across southern Africa. When it was built, there were many fears as what they were going to do with it. _

_They wanted to fight. To defend Earth. They believed that the Kaiju were sullying their precious Earth and wanted them gone. A 4__th__ Generation Jaeger, Tango Wasp joined the good fight. _

_China regarded the Wei Tang triplets as national heroes and were already constructing a new and improved Jaeger as propaganda before this new wave of attacks hit. Their Jaeger could only be regarded as Generation 4.5, it was certainly an upgrade over the 4__th__ Generation machines, but couldn't hold a candle to Lima Titan or Omega Trigger. They put it into service, protecting their national interests around the Indian Ocean and the Arctic as soon as possible, garnering much praise from the international community, much to the chagrin of the Brits, their smaller machines being ignored mostly by the east. _

_Russia carried on as usual after the destruction of Cherno Alpha, they built another. With monsters known to them, they were not a culture to sit back and wait for the attacks. Vladi Beta was active 16 months after the destruction of the throat, nearly 10 years ago now. With it's in built nuclear reactor, the design copied nearly straight from Gipsy Danger, it can run indefinitely. It had patrolled Siberia and it's coastline for all this time. _

_And finally, Brazil. Importing labour from all across South America, they eventually built their own Jaeger. An old style 2__nd__ Generation Jaeger, heavily articulated joints with light construction in the body. Victory Equinox was the name coined for it by the Marshal, in-keeping with that of those Jaegers gone by. _

_Now all we needed was pilots. _

_This was a lot trickier than we hoped for. With the end of the Pacific Theatre, most active Jaeger pilots had given up on the drift to chase the rabbit. Rayleigh and Mako Beckett were retired now, living out their retirement in Honolulu. What's left of it anyway. They are the only people left alive who have fought a Kaiju and can still fight. We have teachers, but what we need are drift compatible pairs. _

_We shall begin our search at first light. And God forbid a Kaiju appear where we cannot reach it in time. _

_~Extract from the Global Defence Report, 2038~_


End file.
